Madison County High

FFA Newsletter Ila K Day at the MCHS Greenhouse

For the first time ever the Kindergartens at Ila Elementary got to learn first-hand about agriculture. All four classes of the Ila Kindergartener traveled to Madison County High School where MCHS FFA members enrolled in the Horticulture class taught students about plants, how the greenhouse works and where their vegetables come from.

Students not only got a tour of the facilities but also ate food grown from the student's gardens and took home a plant from the spring plant sale.

After the horticulture tour Ila Kindergartener traveled to Stillwater farms in Ila, where Terry Chandler taught the students about livestock and took students on a hay ride.

"Thank you to the Ila Elementary school teachers and students for being interested in agriculture we hope to see you again next year!" says Trisha Lastly, MCHS Agriculture Teacher/FFA Advisor.

Madison County FFA Banquet The banquet is one of Madison county high school FFA chapter’s

most important events. It’s defiantly the event of the year. For just one night takes lots of time and money, during this year’s Madison County High School FFA banquet more than 300 member’s and guest were present. Every person there enjoyed their shared of amazing food such as pork tenderloin, prepared by Danny Morris, mashed potatoes, and other side items.

During this very important night many awards were given. Many honoring members for their achievements in FFA through their work in Career Development Events,

and on this night three special people were given the title of “honorary membership”. Honorary membership is awarded to supporters of our chapter. This year’s honorary members are Mrs. Patricia McLaughin, FFA member parent and Alumni Member, Mrs. Melissa Ellisor, CTAE Secretary and Mr. Bo Boykin, CTAE Director.

Upcoming Events

August 10th- First Day of

School

August 21st – First After

School Meeting

Buy a NEW FFA T-Shirt

and show your support

for our chapter!

July 2012 Volume 4 Issue 2

Washington Leadership Conference Members of the Madison County High School FFA Chapter

recently attended the National FFA Organization’s 2012

Washington Leadership Conference on June 19-23, 2012.

The annual conference focuses on leadership development,

personal growth and community service. More than 2,200 students

– up to 340 a week – from throughout the U.S. who are FFA

members will attend one of the conference’s seven week-long

sessions in June and July.

“Students come to the Washington Leadership Conference wanting

to make a difference. They leave knowing they can – and will,” said

Dwight Armstrong, CEO of the National FFA Organization. “I believe

students are generally aware of global problems like hunger and

poverty but many are sheltered and disconnected from what’s

happening in the world. During their time in Washington, FFA

members experience real-world problems and take critical steps

toward personal growth and developing leadership skills they’ll

need to make a difference in people’s lives, starting in their own

communities.”

Created in 1969 and held annually in Washington, D.C., the

conference helps students develop leadership skills, identify

personal strengths, develop awareness of societal differences and human needs and strategize how they can help

others through community service. Throughout the week, each student develops a community-service initiative for

their local community, with the intention of students returning home and implementing their plans.

The 2012 National FFA Organization's Washington Leadership Conference is sponsored through the National FFA

Foundation by Timberland PRO, Monsanto, CSX, TransCanada, Crop Production Services, Farm Credit and CHS.

“For 10 consecutive years, Timberland PRO is honored to sponsor the 2012 Washington Leadership Conference.

We have worked closely with FFA to transfer our model of service to an organization whose focus is on living to

serve,” said James O’Connor, vice president of Timberland PRO. “We look forward to participating with FFA

members in various civic engagement activities in and around the D.C. area that will be focused on leadership and

service learning.”

The conclusion of each weekly session of the Washington Leadership

Conference is a Day of Service, where students work together on a real,

hands-on community-service project. Last year, through each week’s Day

of Service, students contributed a total of $85,283 worth of volunteer

labor to the greater Washington, D.C. Students packed, sorted and

distributed more than 29.5 tons of produce and shipped more than

100,000 meals overseas.

"I loved the community service project! Helping others is so much fun

when everyone works together," Shelby Smith, Madison County High

school FFA member.

This year, students will volunteer more than 9,500 hours to pack and ship

thousands of meals to Nicaragua to help the third-world country battle

hunger.

“Monsanto's support of the Washington Leadership Conference reflects

our sole focus on agriculture and commitment to American farm families,”

said John Raines, lead of customer advocacy at Monsanto. “Monsanto has a

long tradition of supporting agriculture youth through scholarships,

July 2012 Volume 4 Issue 2

education and leadership development programs. We are enthused to

support FFA members dedicated to developing the leadership skills

they'll need to achieve success and personal fulfillment.”

For more, visit www.FFA.org/WLC. Follow the conference on Twitter at

#WLC2012.

“CSX is proud to support the participation of FFA members in this life-

changing leadership development conference,” said Tori Kaplan, AVP,

CSX Corporate Social Responsibility. “The Washington Leadership

Conference is an awesome opportunity for students to learn how to

become a visionary and develop their decision-making and goal-setting

skills while expanding their understanding of agribusiness and

participating in community service. The experience and skills that

students will learn will stay with them for a lifetime.”

The National FFA Organization provides leadership, personal growth

and career success training through agricultural education to 540,379

student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of 7,489

local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin

Islands.

July Student Spotlight This month’s student spotlight is Hunter Anderson. He will be in the 9th grade this upcoming

school year and be taking the basic agriculture class. Hunter has been in the FFA since he was in 6th grade.

He is a very active member and has held officer positions for 3 years. He is

recently the Freshman Academy FFA Historian, and he has been vice-president

and treasurer for the middle school. As this year’s Historian his goal for the

year is to take as many pictures as possible and reconnect with past FFA

members in the county!

His reason for joining FFA is to become a better leader, also to meet new

connections through the agriculture business. Hunter is showing beef cattle

and goats this year, and has previously showed pigs. On top of that, showing is

one of his favorite things to do! His SAE also involves his show animals.

Since he has been FFA, Hunter has experienced many new things! I

asked him what were some of his favorite memories

and his response was “EVERYTHING!” That truly

shows his love for the organization!

Hunter has participated in a few CDE’s

through his years of membership. He has competed

in the livestock judging and poultry judging CDE this

previous year, and his livestock judging team

received 4th in the area and he was high individual.

July 2012 Volume 4 Issue 2

Beef Futurity Cattle Show Recently Hunter Anderson and Olivia Minish attended

and competed in Perry, GA at the annual Beef Futurity. Hunter

Anderson, MCHS Freshman placed second in class! If you or

someone you know is

interested in showing beef

cattle or livestock please

contact one of the

Agriculture teachers at

the high school.

Congraduations to Hunter

and Olivia for

representing Madison

County so well this

summer!

Banks County FFA Alumni Goat Show Recently members of the Madison County FFA and 4H Goat Show team traveled and competed at

the Banks County FFA Alumni Goat Show. The show was divided into showmanship and weight classes.

Students from Madison County competed in both. Kylie Whitworth paced 3rd in showmanship in the 6th

grade division of showmanship. Also Olivia Minish placed 2nd in showmanship in the 11th grade division

of showmanship. All students placed well in the weight division as well.

Madison County FFA and 4H members that prepared and showed their goat projects at the Banks

County FFA Alumni Goat Show included: Brandon Smith, Olivia Minish, Hunter Anderson, Montana Smith,

and Kylie Whitworth.

July 2012 Volume 4 Issue 2